"Most beginnings are small, and appear trivial and insignificant, but in reality they are the most important things in life." -- James Allen

______________________________________________________________________________

"Beginning" is just another way to describe the most powerful six-letter word in the vocabulary of achievers: A-C-T-I-O-N.

______________________________________________________________________________

Oh, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? -- Robert Browning

______________________________________________________________________________

The significance of a man is not in what he attains but in what he longs to attain. -- Kahil Gibran

______________________________________________________________________________

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for

the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. -- George Bernard Shaw

______________________________________________________________________________

Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble. -Arabic Proverb

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Success in anything is about focus and concentration. When I coached, I'd say to the players, "Yes, I know you played hard, but that's not good enough. You've got to stay

focused on the task at hand the entire game."...Rick Barry

"If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time."...Peter Drucker

"There is no medicine like hope. No incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow."...Orson Swett Marsden

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* The younger the team, the more positive you must be with them and the more teaching that must occur. Avoid excessive “chewing them out” for they

need you to boost their confidence rather than to tear it down. To a bad passer, for example, instead of saying to him, “you are the worst passer I have ever

seen,” say “you are too good of a passer to make a sloppy pass like that. Be sure you concentrate.” Study how you correct your players’ mistakes and see if you

can correct them in a positive manner. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Good footwork gives the player the ability to attack regardless of where or how he catches the ball. Coaches must introduce their players to their feet—

-in other words, teach footwork." ...Kevin Eastman

______________________________________________________________________________

Speed and Agility Drills for Basketball Players -- Lee Taft

1) How do you incorporate speed training it into your basketball practice?

a) During your warm-ups b) Train speed early in practice c) Right before and after breaks

i) This helps players focus ii) Ex. “we are going to get quicker defensively right now-so let’s work at it”

d) Should be done in 2 minute increments e) Do not do for long periods at a time – must be done in spurts

f) Speed runs of about 7 seconds i) How we improve speed is to do it hard, do it well and get out of it

g) Crossover moves in 3-7 seconds h) Choose a different aspect of speed each day

i) Lateral ii) Straight ahead iii) Combined movement patterns

2) Strength a) Most of his is done with body weight

b) Trying to get the athletes to move more efficiently c) Test for ankle mobility

i) Stand on one leg with toe slightly away from the wall (2-4 inches) and square hips to the wall

ii) Press the heel in the floor and put knee to the wall iii) Bend the knee – the knee should contact the wall without the heel coming off

the floor – if not poor mobility iv) This exercise is good for increasing ankle mobility

d) Single Leg Squat – Every athlete needs to be able to do this

i) Sit in chair (1) Put weight on one foot then stand up on this leg

(2) Then go down and touch butt to the chair (3) This can be done with young kids

ii) Clock Squats – good stabilization/strength exercise (1) Free leg goes out 9 o’clock and squat on single leg down low

(2) Do not let leg come towards the mid-line as you go down (3) The patella should stay in line with the 2nd toe

(4) As athlete goes down you can push it at the knee – the athlete must push out to prevent the knee from tracking inside – this will often create a burn in glute medius

which is a stabilizer in of the knee and hip

e) Proper Squat and how to teach it i) Feet wider than shoulder width apart ii) Press outside of heels into the floor

iii) Drive hips back with arms crossed iv) Sit so heels are behind the buttocks

v) Shoulder blades should be together to get athletes to not round their back f) Stabilization Progression Drills

i) 2 foot landing – how to land (1) Feet shoulder width apart

(2) Drive hips back (3) Shoulders over knees – knees over toes

(4) Hands back ii) Then stand up and get to the squat position

iii) Start on balls of the foot and drop into the squat position iv) Then jump once and land in the proper squat position

v) Then jump two times – stick and go but short stick and land in proper squat position vi) Then jump three times and land in this position – but each is a short stick so it is not

plyometrics vii) Then jump forward and laterally and land in proper squat position

viii) Single leg stabilization drills (1) Forward progression – hop

(a) Land stabilize with hips back (b) Goal is complete stabilization within one second

(c) Short hops – 12 inches ix) Lateral single leg stabilization drill (1) Complete the same drill as above

x) Hop, stabilize, and squat – touch cones on each side of where you land

3) Movement Patterns

a) Skipping i) How do they use their arms? ii) Source of legs is the arms

b) Crossover – is used to mobilize the hips

i) Step up and over the other knee ii) Drive the knee

iii) Then do with a skip – this is a high level exercise

c) High knees d) Butt Kicks e) Run

i) Speed of leg action comes from the arms ii) Shorten arm action and you shorten leg lift

iii) Arm action is 90 degrees at the side of the body and then open the arms to 120 degrees at back

iv) Drive the arms back v) Divide the body down the middle and don’t let arms cross to the other side of

the body

--

4) Drills a) Get ups – can be used for balance and acceleration

i) For balance -get up and balance on one foot with hands above head ii) For acceleration - lie face down and when the coach says “go!” the athlete gets to

their feet and sprints iii) Add listening skills – ex. “when I clap my hands get up and go” then the coach says

“ready, go!” – most athletes will go (1) “When I say blue get up and ____” then the coach says “red, white, blue” and see

how quickly athletes respond

b) One Knee Down – good strength drill i) Athlete begins in a lunge position with one knee just touching the floor

ii) Then the athlete powers up off the foot planted in front iii) This is done by pushing the heel of the front foot down and back

c) Acceleration Game-Rock-Paper-Scissors: i) The athletes are paired up and then line up on opposite sides of the centre line.

The pair then plays the old game of rock-paper-scissors. ii) The loser must then run away and attempt to cross the foul line while the winner chases the loser and attempts to tag him/her before he/she crosses the foul line.

iii) As well as working on agility, (hip turn and crossover step) it also forces the athlete to process the result of the rock-paper-scissors game quickly and transfer to a physical

act.

d) Pylon drills i) 5 pylons are placed 3-5 feet apart from each other

(1) Athlete goes from 1 to 3, 3 to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 3, 3 to 5 (2) Have two athletes compete against each other

(3) Can do this running with change of direction, crossover step with lateral shuffle, shuffle all the way, any combination

e) Tag Games – Tag is the greatest teacher of athletic movement

i) Box Tag (1) Can involve multiple changes of directions, aggressiveness and decision making. (2) Divide the team into two groups and line the groups up in opposite corners of a

volleyball court. (3) One team is the “tagger” team and the other is the “evader” team.

(4) When the coach says “go!”, the first “tagger” comes out and tries to tag the first “evader” as quickly as he/she can.

(5) The objective for the “evader” is to avoid being tagged for as long as possible. (6) When the first “evader” is tagged then the second pair begins.

(7) When young people first play this game they will often be very cautious as an “evader”. They tend to hang back in the corner and almost wait for the “tagger” to be

right near them before they move.

(8) The “evader” should get near the middle of the court quickly so they have the opportunity to go in any direction and not get cornered by the “tagger”.

ii) Shuffle Tag (1) all athletes are in the volleyball court and may only defensive slide.

(2) The objective is to tag as many people as possible in a specified amount of time (10-20 seconds).

(3) The tag must be at the knee and the person can deflect the tag attempt. (4) If you are tagged you must step outside the court and complete 1 tuck

jump/pushup/etc. and then get back in the drill. (5) Increase intensity by giving them points for how many people they tag.

f) Power Shuffle i) A set of 5 cones lined up equal distance apart for a total of 18-21 feet apart.

The distance is determined by the size of the athletes. ii) The athlete begins even with the first cone.

iii) On the command the athlete moves laterally to the 3rd cone and then back to the 2nd, over to the 4th cone, back to the 3rd and finishes going past the 5th cone.

iv) Athletes can compete against each other. They do not reach down and touch the cone but they must get even with the cones each time.

v) Teaching Point – Do not have the “big reach” with the front foot – then you are pulling with the hamstring and this is slower and makes the athlete susceptible to injury

g) Triangle Cones i) Coach – will point the direction the athlete is to go ii) Set up 3 cones in a triangle about 6-10 feet apart

iii) Instruct the athlete is the movement pattern – crossover step, defensive shuffle, run, back pedal, etc.

iv) The athlete must face the coach to begin. v) When the coach points, the athlete performs the movement pattern to one of the two

back cones. He/she then gets back to the top cone as quickly as possible. Then watches for the next direction the coach points to.

vi) The drill creates good reactive ability.

h) Cone Stack Drill i) Total of 4 cones – 1 is where the athlete starts and the other 3 are stacked a distance

away from the athlete ii) On the command the athlete gets one cone from the stack of 3, brings it back and

stacks it on top of the one. iii) Continue until all four cones are stacked on top of each other.

iv) Can do this with two athletes competing against each – they each have their own set of cones and race against each other.

v) Can do this with any type of movement pattern though crossovers are best

i) V Drill i) A cone is set up at each block

ii) Athlete starts at the foul line and on the coach’s instructions (pointing) goes back to a cone then back to the foul line.

iii) The athlete then goes back to the other cone and back. iv) Again, the coach decides on the movement pattern.

______________________________________________________________________

Wisdom from Great Coaches

� Simplify the game as much as possible. When you add, you must subtract." -- Don Meyer

� "Shared suffering makes a team, a team."

-- Don Meyer

� "Shared suffering: one guy messes up and everyone runs. One guy does well and everyone benefits."

-- Don Meyer

� "Players who are late say that their time is more important than is the team." -- Don Meyer

� "Put your two best players away from the ball and bring it back to them."

-- Don Meyer

� "Quickness more than anything else should determine your amount of pressure on the ball."

-- Don Meyer

� "Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching I've learned from making mistakes."

-- Rick Pitino

� "The more you lose, the more positive you have to become. When you're winning, you can ride players harder because their self-esteem is high. If you are losing and you try to be

tough, you're asking for dissension." -- Rick Pitino

� "The basic premise of my system is to fatigue your opponents with constant pressure

defensively and constant movement offensively." -- Rick Pitino

� "Your defense will save you on the nights that your offense isn't working." --

Adolph Rupp

� "If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach has a monopoly on the knowledge of basketball. There are no secrets in the game. The only secrets, if there are any, are good teaching of sound

fundamentals, intelligent handling of men, a sound system of play, and the ability to instill in the boys a desire to win."

-- Adolph Rupp (1948, 1949, 1951, and 1958 Kentucky teams won the NCAA Championship)

� "Deep down, your players must know you care about them. This is the most important

thing. I could never get away with what I do if the players feel I didn't care for them. They know, in the long run, I'm in their corner."

-- Bo Schembechler

� "Only praise behavior that you want to be repeated. Never use false praise." -- Dean Smith

� "Always have your players go and pick-up the guy who draws the charge."

-- Dean Smith

� "Everyone on the bench stands for the man coming out of the game." -- Dean Smith

� "You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball."

-- Dean Smith

� "The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get." -- Jerry Tarkanian (1990 UNLV team won the NCAA championship)

� "The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy." --

Jerry Tarkanian

� "Good players can take coaching; great players can take coaching and learn." -- John Wooden

� "The better conditioned team will probably win in the long run."

-- John Wooden --

� "Conditioning is essential to success in basketball." -- John Wooden

� "I do not want players who do not have a keen desire to win and do not play hard and

aggressively to accomplish that objective." -- John Wooden

� "We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they

are." -- John Wooden

� "Our conditioning program begins the first day of class. The running portion is very

demanding. It has physiological advantages, as well as psychological advantages." -- Norm Sloan

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the Sidelines with Leo Rautins - The Harder You Work...The Luckier You Get

I decided to share some of the best advice I have ever received or followed - in my personal,

athletic, and professional life. Many people influence our lives - some intentionally, and some unknowingly. Yet however the message arrives at our doorstep, it can often change our lives, or

at the very least, leave a lasting impression.

(1) Jack Donohue:

“A dream is just a dream…until you write it down…then it becomes a goal.”

“You can fly…if you try”

“If you’re not going to dunk over someone in a game…don’t dunk in practice.”

“If you sign autographs when you win and play well…sign them when you lose and play poorly. One day no one will care who you are.”

On my jump shot, to be repeated with each shot I took, “over (eyes) the front of the

rim…hand in the basket.”

One day, Coach ‘D’ asked me (a skinny 16-year-old at the time) if I wanted to be an NBA player, and without hesitation I replied, “yes.” He was the one person at that time of my life, that

had the credibility to tell me if the NBA was a pipe dream, or a possibility. He looked at me and said, “don’t ever be afraid to admit your goals.” Then, Coach looked me square in the eyes,

and assured me that I would become an NBA player. That meant the world to me.

We (Canada) were playing the United States for fifth place in the 1978 World Championship, in the Philippines, when something horrible happened. The game was tied and we had the ball

coming out of a time-out with just second’s left. While getting the final play – for me to drive the ball down the floor for the last shot, I inadvertently stepped in a puddle (there were leaks in the roof and a monsoon outside – I kid you not!) before going out on the floor. I took the inbounds

pass, dribbled to center court, when in the blink of an eye my feet slipped and I took flight, landing flat on my back, while watching the ball squirt from my grip and arrive in the waiting

hands of the USA’s best shooter. He caught it, took a step and shot it. And there I was, sprawled out on my back, watching the ball sail over my head and swish thru the net, as the buzzer

sounded. Game over, Canada loses.

Later, still agonizing over the loss, and my part in it, Coach came over, put his arms around me, and asked me a question. He asked if things had worked out differently, and I made the shot,

would I have won the game? Hesitantly, I said yes. At which point he proceeded to tell me I was selfish. Selfish? Here I am, blaming myself for losing the game, and Coach calls me selfish?

“So all your teammates…they had nothing to do with the game,” he asked? It was then that Jack, in his infinite wisdom, revealed to me that the ‘team’ put me in the position to take that final shot. That maybe, if the ‘team’ did everything right, that final

shot would not have been needed. And the most important message, “no one player wins or loses a game…a team wins or loses the game.”

(2)John Saunders – ESPN/ABC, former Raptors play-by-play man:

John shared these thoughts with me in our first year of doing games together – the Raptors

inaugural season, and they have carried over and been applied to far more than calling a game.

“What is the worst thing that can happen? You screw up. So what. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“It’s never as good as you think, or as bad as you think.”

“Don’t plan what you’re going to say, just say it. You know what you’re talking about,

talk.”

(3)Hugh McDougall – my former Vice Principal at St. Michael’s College School:

“Don’t let the ball bounce you.”

(4)Dan Prendergast – my Coach at St. Mike’s:

As a ninth grader scrimmaging with the senior team, Coach ‘P’, a little irritated at me for turning the ball over - again, instructed me to “zing” the ball when I passed it. The importance of

putting ‘something’ on the ball never left me, and the ability to pass and find the open man was one of the qualities that made me a first round pick in the NBA.

(5)Gerald Oliver – former assistant at Marquette and Head Coach of the Toronto

Tornados:

Recruiting me for the University of Marquette, Coach Oliver gave me some of the best advice a player could ever get.

“Stay low! When you’re low - you’re quicker, faster, react better, jump better, and most of all, you look like a player.”

(6)Victor Dhue – former McMaster University player and fellow Keele St. schoolyard

alum:

Vic grabbed me on the schoolyard one day, and emphatically directed me to, “work off the dribble! Off the dribble left…off the dribble right…you have to be able to take people

either way and shoot it off the dribble – better players won’t just let you catch and shoot the ball.” As an eighth grader at the time, I didn’t understand the value of that message. Only as the competition stiffened, did Vic’s words ring true – and today it is a message I share with all

young players.

(7)George Rautins – my brother, former Niagara U. and National Team player:

With eight years difference between us, I was more of a nuisance to my brother than anything else. But it was my desire to be better than him that was my driving force as a player. Big brother knew it, and used it to push me to the limits. When all the players gathered at the Keele St. court

(the best pick-up ball in the city of TO - back in the day!), and I was there fighting for a spot, George would call me out, and tell me to, “go to court B (the other end of the court, where there was no net and the ball would roll down the field with every shot that went thru the rim)…the southern court.” I was at that court everyday, fighting and working, for the opportunity to play

on ‘court A’, and show my bro up!

I wanted to jump higher, and dunk it like the NBA stars I got to occasionally see on TV. Along with letting me know I couldn’t jump, my brother kept telling me there was just one thing I

needed to do, to jump higher. Anxious to discover the secret to getting my ‘hops’ going, I took his words to heart, and did this each and every day, until I could dunk it any way I wanted to. And the secret was, “Jump…jump…jump! You want to jump higher? Jump…jump…jump!”

How true!

(8)George House – dear friend:

“No one ever said it was going to be easy.”

(9)Jim Boeheim – Head Coach Syracuse University:

When I became the Head Coach of the Senior Men’s National Team, Jim made one thing very

clear to me, “you don’t win without talent. You need to have players…and you have to get the talent. You can be the best coach in the world, but without talent, you can’t win.”

(10)Julius ‘Dr.J’ Erving - Hall of Fame NBA player, former Sixer teammate:

Frustrated with a series of injuries that kept me grounded my rookie season, the ‘Doctor’ gave

me some seasoned perspective, “injuries are your opportunity to get your life, body, business, in order – use that time to make more than your physical ailments better.”

(11)Oswald Rautins – my father, the ‘Chief’:

I was reluctant to go to an early morning open tryout for the National Team. I had a bad

experience just a few months earlier - getting cut and being told I was too young by the Ontario Jr. team. Therefore, I felt a fair shot at the National Team was not to be. My dad woke me up,

asked me what I was going to do that day (he knew the answer), and I said play ball. Usually that meant spending time on the phone figuring out where and when we would gather, as well as

getting enough guys together for a run. After trying everything else, the ‘Chief’ made it simple, “let’s go,” he said, “the run is there. You don’t have to call anyone or look for a gym. I’ll

drive you.” I went, and after just five minutes on the floor, Jack Donohue called me over to the side. This is it, I thought. I knew it was a waste of time. Instead, Coach told me he wanted to invite me to the main camp in Ottawa, where I made the team. Thanks dad! And Coach ‘D’!

(12)A mystery card left in my mailbox in college:

Everything was going wrong for me in my first season at Syracuse, and I was as down as one

could be. I opened my mail one day and found this note from a mystery sender:

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

My season turned around for me a short time later, and we won the Big East Championship.

Not sure who said the following, but I try to live by them:

“Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”

“The harder you work…the luckier you get.” ______________________________________________________________________________

The journey of life takes us on numerous adventures and through many obstacles. More often than not, it is our ability to negotiate these obstacles that shapes who we are, and

what we ultimately make of ourselves. "Happiness is not the absence of conflict...but the ability to cope with it". I don't know exactly where I saw or read that

quote, but I never forgot it. My wife says she saw it on Charlie Brown! Gee...thanks, honey!

I also vividly remember the day I found a card in my mailbox, left by a stranger, during a very difficult period in my young basketball career. Things looked bleak and hopeless to

me at the time, but the mystery card changed that with a few simple words that read, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

We cope with life with inner strength and perseverance. But it is the people that touch our lives in so many ways that also give us hope, direction, support, faith, and above all, love. I am very grateful for the many fans and caring people that have

followed my career on the court, behind the microphone, and on the sidelines. -- Leo Rautins

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reflection

All of last season, when the Raptors were turning things around on their way to an Atlantic Division championship, Head Coach Sam Mitchell kept asking his players over and over, “are you willing to do whatever it takes for this team to win?” Sam wanted to know who was willing to play less minutes, rebound more, make the extra pass, defend better, take less shots, drive to the basket, come off the bench, be more vocal, etc…etc… It was simple – if each player on the Raptors was willing to do his part and sacrifice for the team, the team would have success. Well, anybody that has been around the game as a coach, or a player, knows that asking players to think of the team first, is much easier said than done. It is common practice for players to provide lip service and tell you about how winning is everything, how it’s all about the team, and that they will do anything to win. And they mean it too - as long as it’s not their minutes being reduced, or their role downsized, or their starting position taken away! Just like one of my pet peeves, where a player having an off night, shows little interest in getting his team going, and wallows in his own poor game. Yet as soon as that player gets going and knocks down a few shots, or gets a dunk, he starts pounding his chest, and starts yelling at his teammates to “pick it up” or “come on, let’s go!” Please. If you weren’t pushing and encouraging you teammates when the shot wasn’t falling, don’t give me the false bravado when it does. Which brings me to a gesture, or a ‘team’ moment, that is rarely seen in this day and age of the aforementioned chest banging, finger pointing, big money contracts, and globally exposed game. This moment came last Wednesday, before the Raptors – who had lost their last 11 of 14 games, were to play the mighty Detroit Pistons at the ACC. Jose Calderon, the brilliant point guard for Toronto, went to Sam Mitchell and GM

Bryan Colangelo, and suggested that T.J. Ford be inserted into the starting line-up. But here’s the catch – it was his own spot in the line-up that Jose was giving up!! I was absolutely astounded and awed by this gesture of team goodwill from the Spaniard. When Jose came off the bench and played great in support of T.J. (before he got hurt), he made it clear that he was happy to support Ford, and his team, in his role off the bench. Then when Ford got hurt, Calderon stepped in to the starting five, and elevated his game to darn near all-star status, and had the whole league talking about his play. To Jose, it was nothing, he was just playing ball, and doing what his team needed him to do. Suddenly, T.J. comes back from injury, and as painful as it was to see Ford hit the floor against the Hawks (the injury that sidelined him), it was just as painful to see him struggle coming off the bench, as Jose’s backup. Calderon saw it too. He encouraged T.J. wherever possible. Jose defended his backcourt mate from criticism directed his way – even when he had to sit, while Ford wilted before his eyes. Jose took it all in, analyzed the situation, and realized that for the greater good of the team, something had to be done. For whatever reason, Ford could not accept his role off the bench. As a result, T.J. was struggling badly, as were the Raptors as a team. And that is when Jose offered up his spot to Ford - gambling, that this move will hopefully evoke quality play out of his partner, and a turnaround for the team. No lip service here folks, Jose is the real thing! By no fault of his own, T.J. is the product of a North American system that encourages the star system, where starting isn’t a function of a role on the team, but a symbol of status and entitlement. Thus, to not start is somehow demeaning, or a slap in the face - regardless of what is best for the team. Jose on the other hand, was groomed in a club system where everything was earned, and things were done for the sole purpose of winning - where individual stats are secondary to the results of the team. It is that same principal, that when applied to a National Team, would allow teams like Spain and Argentina to win gold medals at the last World’s and Olympic games. The USA is the most athletically gifted and talented team in the world – hands down, but if individuals cannot sacrifice for the good of the team, failure will likely be the result. -- Leo Rautins

Something to think about as we prepare for the coming season. CB ________________________________________________________________

Reading off Penetration (a) An important skill for all players to master is reading off penetration. Here is a simple 2 on 2 progression that I have used to teach penetration principles to my players. The drill starts in 2 on 2. The two offensive players start in the swing and wing. The defender guarding the swing hands the ball to the offensive player and takes one step by the offensive player on the inside. The offensive player attacks the rim reading the help defender. Point of emphasis - keeping my eyes up and do I see a “shoulder or chest”. • if they see a shoulder, keep going to the rim to finish • if they see a chest, pass or change direction The offensive player on the wing is initially pushed away from the direction of the ball. Take your defender away to create more spacing for penetration. The wing offensive player now needs to read his/her defender. Does he/she help up, do you see the defender’s back, cut backdoor; does he /she help over – I cut behind to create a shot or a bad close-out, etc Defensively in this drill, you can work on showing defensive stunts - faking that I’m going to help. It is important to expose the defense to various ways to play defense. This helps the offence with seeing different reads.

Loading this drill (b) Place the players in different spots on the floor, -- example: top/swing spot and weak side post. Helps now comes the weak side post. Load the drill (c) Add two more players for 3 on 3 - the penetrating player now needs to read two possible help defenders - defensively, you are working on helping the help defender. Add two more players for 4 on 4

--

______________________________________________________________________

COACH-ABLE

Here is a little analogy that I used with my players to help them understand what they need to do to be coachable. Let’s use the example of a coffee pot and cups to illustrate. There are six different situations: Cup #1 has a hole in the bottom. The coffee goes in and immediately out the bottom. Cup #2 is dirty. The coffee gets polluted and tastes different. Cup #3 is upside down. The coffee hits the bottom and runs out on the table. Cup #4 is no cup. The person forgot to bring a cup so he/she has nothing to drink from. Cup #5 is a full cup. There is no room to put anymore coffee inside. Cup #6 is a clean cup ready to accept the coffee. How does this relate to being coachable? The coach is the coffee pot. The coffee is the knowledge or skill that the coach is attempting to impart to his/her players. The cups are the players. The type of cup represents the attitude the player brings towards learning that day in practice. Situation 1 – leaky cup - the information goes in one ear and out the other. This is the player who hears, but does not listen. He/she needs to work on concentration skills. To be coachable LISTEN and CONCENTRATE. Situation 2 –dirty cup - is the player who defends his/her action to the coach. These players bring their lawyer to defend their actions. They are unwilling to accept criticism. They distort every comment the coach makes twisting what was said. They are often heard to say; “Yeah, but…” and have an excuse for everything. No learning takes place when excuses are made. To be coachable ACCEPT CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Situation 3 – upside down cup - is the player who feels he/she cannot learn from the coach. These players tune out the coach before the practice even begins. They are heard to say; “This coach can’t teach me anything.” They hold a bias due to past experiences. To be coachable have an OPEN MIND. Situation 4 – forgot the cup - is the worst. This player does not come prepared to learn. These players cannot lead themselves. They show up late, miss practices, give no effort, do not have their practice gear. They often say; “I don’t care.” To be coachable come PREPARED TO PRACTICE. Situation 5 – full cup - is the player who knows it all. These players have already established their own ideas on what should be done. They are unwilling to attempt new ideas. They are unwilling to break out of their comfort zone. They are often heard to say; “But that is not how I do it”. To be coachable be WILLING TO TRY NEW IDEAS. Situation 6 – clean cup - is the one we hope our players bring to practice each and everyday. They listen and concentrate, accepts constructive criticism, are open minded, are prepared to practice and willing to try new ideas.

-- Shared by Mike Mac Kay of Canada Basketball

______________________________________________________________________

Speed Lay Ups Players need to learn to carry their speed into their lay ups. Too many players decelerate as they approach the basket. This allows the defense to recover and often means the player has lost the positive momentum into the shot. What follows is a progression we use to teach attacking at speed. Drill #1 - Pass and cut The players line up at half with a ball. The ball is passed to the coach and the player sprints to the basket. The ball is passed back to the player who catches the ball and carries their speed into the lay up. Note: The secrete to this drill is the pass by the coach. You need to lead the player. If you pass at the player he/ she can wait for the ball. Make them sprint. There will be a few missed balls until the player learn to sprint. Where the ball is passed in relation to the basket also determines if there needs to be a dribble or just steps. This lay ups can be done from various angles. Make note of the number of dribbles used. The sound of the feet will often tell you if they are decelerating. Drill #2 - Pass and cut with guided defense A defender starts with a ball under the basket. The offense player starts outside the three point line. The pass is made as the offensive player starts to sprint. The player must learn to attack. There are two concepts we use: • Go at the chest of the defender freezing him/her. At the last second go by the shoulder to score. As the players improve add fakes at speed. • Go at the outside shoulder of the defender forcing him /her to move. Cut back as the defender moves. These are similar concepts taught running backs in football in order to cut at speed and avoid the tackle. At first the defender is acting as a pylon. He /she is there to give the offensive player a frame of reference. The coach must ensure that the player can safely handle the speed with his/her eyes up before increasing the intensity of the defense.

Load • Go at different angles

• Have the offense pass and then return pass from the defender

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 vs 3 Learning or Competitive drill

Stationary start • Starting from different spots on the floor, players play 3 vs 3. • Set positions where players must start. Ie.: Swing - wing - opposite corner. Low post - wing and wing, etc... • Defense hands the ball to offense, Point for offense if there is a score, a foul and an offensive rebound. If offensive rebound, players must try to score right away. • On defensive rebound players must clear 3 point line and attack right away. Variations: - can score immediately (no pass necessary) - must pass twice before shot attempt. - Ball screen after two passes. - Dynamic starts : Korean passing drill, Trac passing, - Have teams play offense for 8 seconds and then have to transition full court for 8 seconds. - Start with players in different positions (Swing, wing, soft corner; etc….) P.O.E. – Analyze quickly how to best attack defense. -- aggressive play from offense. -- dribbling efficiency. Should I screen for a teammate? How can I help my teammates? Where do we have the advantage

______________________________________________________________________

So here is an area I hear coaches lamenting all of the time - why do many "talented" athletes not have work ethic? Why do we see athletes dominating at the younger ages

and then disappearing?

I recently read a section in Ed Smith's book, "What Sport Tells Us About Life". The chapter I am referring to is titled: "The Curse of Talent: or, What Can Beauty

Queens Teach Us About Sport". This is the chapter that made me buy the book. Are you kidding me - beauty queens and sport in the same paragraph, now I just had to find

out how these two things could be connected!

There is a great quote in the book:

"Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising" Cyril Connolly

Smith talks about a study that followed the lives of a generation of beauty queens

across the USA. "How had the beautiful people done in the game of real life?" Good question. I'd like to know the answer to that one. Not very well according to the study.

Fifteen years later the high school beauty queens were typically doing worse - in terms of wealth, careers and happiness. They had peaked too early!

When I talk to kids in my coaching capacity I tell them that becoming a good

basketball player is not a sprint, it is a marathon - greatness takes time. Smith speculates in his book about why the beauty queens were not doing so well - maybe

they found adolescence so easy and wonderful that the rest of life was a disappointment, or maybe because they received so much adulation in their childhood

they crumbled at the first sign of adult rejection.

The author then goes on to ask the question "what can we learn from this as it applies to the word of sports?." Smith tells the story of baseball player (now manager) Billy

Beane who was the subject of Michael Lewis' book "Moneyball". I will skip over this part - but the premise is that Billy Beane was an unbelievable baseball "talent", a "can't

miss" prospect. But guess what, he did miss - he went on to have a miserable 6-year major league career averaging just .219 with only 3 home runs. The good news for Billy Beane is that after those 6 miserable years he quit as a player and asked to be a scout. He became a brilliant scout and judge of players, and in 1977 became the youngest GM

in the major leagues.

Smith talks about how Billy Beane had learned a great deal from his own experiences as an athlete. In his brief career he had learned to respect performance (what is actually

produced by an athlete!). He had learned to respect it because it was never DEMANDED of him as an emerging player. Everyone assumed TALENT would get him through. So as a manager he did not make the same mistakes - where he was indulged

as a young athlete he was careful not to make that mistake with others. Talent, he discovered, is rated too highly. There is a quote in the book that is always bantered about by coaches, parents, scouts etc. "She's got talent, so she is bound to get

better". Do we, as coaches and parents, subconsciously, or in some cases consciously, not demand of our most talented? Do we just let things slide with

them because they are so talented and they are our best player? They are "can't miss" players and we end up helping them to miss!

Ed Smith says something in his book that I think most coaches know... but many do not

want to hear or believe:

"In fact, talent only matures when harnessed within a personality that is capable of self-improvement. And talent, ironically, has a nasty knack of protecting the talented from the urge to self-improve. Super-talented young sportsmen, never

having needed resilience thus far, often lack the psychological capacity to develop it when life gets tough in the big leagues"

So what can we learn from all of this? Well, what I have learned is that if we see

athletes with talent we need to "coach" them just like we do ALL of our athletes. We need to hold them accountable for improving - we need to praise them for

their work ethic and their improvement and not just for their talent. (I recall going into this in detail in one of my past blogs - "Do you have the right mind set?") We need to teach all of our athletes - including the super "talented" ones - the appropriate skills to handle adversity and setbacks. Help then to develop the tools to handle tough times.... even the "beauty queens" and talented athletes have rough times! We also need to look at production - not just talent. It is not about looking good -

it is about getting it done, producing on the floor.

Coaches at all levels get seduced by talent, potential and the "possibility" of a great player. Then at times we look right past the athletes that are working hard and

producing results. At what point does a talented athlete with potential become a player who is actually playing to her potential? I really do not have the answer to that one.... I

wish I did! But I do know you can't want it more for someone than they want it for themselves - if an athlete doesn't love to work on her game, if she doesn't love the

challenge of our sport, the challenge of getting better... then she will never reach her potential.

I guess the most amazing and wonderful thing is when "talent" partners up with a personality that is capable of self-improvement - that is when we get to see Steven

Nash, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzkey, Michael Phelps, or Lisa Leslie.

Allison McNeill, Canada Basketball ______________________________________________________________________

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another,

it is the only means.” -- Albert Einstein

______________________________________________________________________

Do You Have the Right Mindset?

-- Allison McNeill

. I made mention of Joanne Sargent who played on our National Women's Team from 1970 - 1976. Here is a great quote from Joanne that was in the Salmon Arm Observer Newspaper after her Salmon Arm Secondary School Wall of Fame Induction. The story was written by Richard MacKenzie. Asked about her success as a player, Sargent said if there was one thing that set her apart from her teammates it was that she was “so driven.” “A lot of my teammates were better basketball players than me,” she said, “but I was just so crazed to become better... I had such a passion.” Joanne's quote reminded me of a saying I have had on my wall since I was in high school. My Mom gave me my first copy of this poem and I love it!

PRESS ON

Nothing in the world can take the

place of persistence. Talent will not;

nothing is more common than unsuccessful men

with talent. Genius will not;

unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full

of educated derelicts. Persistence and

Determination alone are omnipotent.

Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford University wrote a book titled: Mindset: The New

Psychology of Success. I have not yet read the entire book.... but what I have read so far is really good. I won't spend a lot of time on this; if you are interested you can buy the book or “google”

it to learn more. But I do have a few things to share with you. I found this information in the book and also from the www.mindsetonline.com.

Professor Dweck talks about having a "fixed" mindset or a "growth" mindset. In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They

spend their time trying to show their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They believe that their talent alone creates their success - without effort.

People for whom performance is paramount want to look good even if it means not learning a thing in the process.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through

dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all successful

people have had these qualities.

Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity every walk of life.

This next bit of information was taken from an article in Stanford Magazine. The article is titled "Effort Effect" by Marina Krakovsky.

One day last November, psychology professor Carol Dweck welcomed a pair of visitors from the Blackburn Rovers, a soccer team in the United Kingdom’s Premier League. The Rovers’ training

academy is ranked in England’s top three, yet performance director Tony Faulkner had long suspected that many promising players weren’t reaching their potential. Ignoring the team’s century-old motto—arte et labore, or “skill and hard work”—the most talented individuals

disdained serious training.

On some level, Faulkner knew the source of the trouble: British soccer culture held that star players are born, not made. If you buy into that view, and are told you’ve got immense talent, what’s the point of practice? If anything, training hard would tell you and others that you’re

merely good, not great.

A 60-year-old academic psychologist might seem an unlikely sports motivation guru. But Dweck’s expertise—and her recent book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success—bear

directly on the sort of problem facing the Rovers. Through more than three decades of systematic research, she has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while

equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson.

The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed. Dweck has shown that people

can learn to adopt the latter belief and make dramatic strides in performance.

So what does this mean for coaches, parents and teachers? We need to quit telling athletes how talented and great they are! We need to start praising how hard they are working;

how committed to getting better they are, how they keep persisting when things get tough, etc. We also need to focus on "learning goals" as opposed to "performance goals". If it is only about the winning then why work hard, why train if I can "win" without working

hard and training hard.

Carol Dweck has confirmed so much of what I have seen and believed at the university and National Team levels over the past 30 years. I have been lucky enough to play with and coach

many great players – to a player they all demonstrated a “growth” mindset. Steve Nash might be the greatest example of a “growth” mindset player we have ever seen in our sport.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A hundred yeArs from now it will not mAtter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lIved In, or the kind of car i drove...

but the world may be different because I was Important In the lIfe of a chIld.

- Author unknown ______________________________________________________________________________

Develop every child’s ABC’S – Agility, Balance, Co-ordination and Speed. Building a young athlete’s physical literacy is key to their overall development.

A study in the US said that over 70% of kids quit organized sport by age 13 and never go back. That is just the age we do not want them to quit. The number one reason they quit is that it is not longer fun. The number two reason is that there is too

much pressure to win.

I think Bob Bigelow (Author: “Just let the kids play”) said it best. “The best way to evaluate a youth practice is to see if the kids are sweaty, red-faced, smiling and

wanting to come back”.

Some things to think about! -- CB _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Coaching on the Fly by Mike McNeill , Basketball BC

Each fall ESPN has an “all-access” hook up with a number of NCAA Division I Men’s practices. Over the years viewers have had the opportunity to watch such coaching greats as Roy Williams – North Carolina, Tom Izzo – Michigan State, Lute Olsen – Arizona, Jim Calhoun – Connecticut, Mike Krzyzewski – Duke, plus many more. From watching these segments the most notable trait all of these coaches have in common during practice is that they all “coach on the fly”. This means they are giving feedback to the players while the drill or scrimmage was going on – they rarely stopped drills to lecture to all the players. Instead, they keep a constant banter of instruction and encouragement while the play continues. Many poor coaches just stand and watch a drill progress and give no feedback to the players. They believe the players will get better simply by doing a drill – this is significant mistake. Drills do not teach; drills simply provide an opportunity for the athletes to repeat the skills or patterns through repetition. Coaches are the teachers and must teach through each of the activities the athletes perform during the practice. Throughout the entire practice the great coach never takes a break from teaching. The great coach is analyzing, evaluating, giving feedback, giving praise, cajoling, scolding, - all in an effort to bring to the best out in the players they are instructing.

This is why the great practice coaches have a tremendous amount of energy, enthusiasm and focus – they know the importance of being “up” because they know they must not let any opportunity to teach pass by. The players are responsible for making plays and the coach should be trying to guide the player towards making the correct decision. “Coaching on the fly” does not mean that the coaches are telling players what to do. If coaches do this they are in fact taking the decision-making away from the players. Decision-making is a critical aspect of success on the basketball floor and must be constantly taught to players. However, the coach cannot make the decisions for the players. By properly coaching on the fly the coach can help to guide the players towards making the correct plays. As an example, coaches should not say “pass it to Jason”, instead statements like “eyes up” will encourage players to keep their head up, and thus, hopefully see that Jason is open.

The impact of “coaching on the fly”: 1. It helps keep the energy and intensity of the practice high. One of the most important qualities your team can have is to play hard – this is best developed through consistently intense practices. While it is important for players to learn to re-focus and to regain their intensity they must first learn to be intense and to play hard. 2. Again, “coaching on the fly” keeps the energy of the players up because players know they are being taught and evaluated. 3. It shows the enthusiasm of the coach. A coach cannot expect his players to be enthusiastic if he/she is not. 4. It forces the coach to stay focused during practice. The coach cannot give feedback if he/she is not observing what is going on. 5. Coaches do not waste opportunities to teach. 6. It helps prevent the same mistake from occurring time after time, without having to stop practice. 7. Prevents the coach from constantly stopping practice. Each time the practice stops it makes it more difficult to get the intensity back up. 8. Improves decision-making because the coach is constantly preparing players to make decisions.

Why not stop practice to correct? 1. It has a negative impact on conditioning. Teams cannot be successful unless they are fit. Stopping practice constantly will not challenge the player’s anaerobic capacity and enable them build their anaerobic threshold. 2. Long lectures bore the players. It is pointless to have long lectures; players cannot comprehend all the information and will make little use of it. Longer talks are necessary to simulate time-outs, but they should be rare.

3. Players tend to lose focus when practices are constantly stopped. 4. Constantly stopping practice makes it very difficult to regain intensity.

How should you coach on the fly? 1. The coach should have a constant banter going on with the players. The coach should constantly encourage effort; use terms like “hustle!”, “rebound!”, “run”, etc. 2. The coach should make statements that will prepare the players to make decisions and read the play, as an example, if a player is going to be receiving a screen a coach may say “be ready to read, here comes a screen”. 3. The coach should keep comments specific to items he/she has asked the players to focus on. Each drill should have 1-2 areas of focus. “Get to help-side quick”, “block-out!” are examples statements that may be specific to areas the team is focusing on. 4. The coach must be positive but honest. Praise the special effort, the intelligent play, the great read, and the great effort on the boards. Do not give false praise – it eventually wears thin and has little meaning.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11 Characteristics of Great Coaches

So what characteristics do the best coaches share? 1. Keep Vision and Values Front and Center. The coach is visionary and lives life by adhering to core values. He should have very real strength of character and commitment to personal integrity and honesty. Winning at any point should never come at the expense of values. 2. Think Deeply about and Pursue Holistic Education The coach sees himself as preparing people not only for achievement in sport, but through sport for a life of personal fulfillment and for the enrichment of community. 3. Dedicated to Life-Long Personal Development and Professionalism The coach tirelessly pursues personal education, formally and informally, both in the performance related sciences and in liberal arts. He sees the journey to coaching excellence as a never ending story; seen not only in terms of a chosen sport and coaching theory and practice, but in understanding how to successfully live a balanced and full life, while facing tougher and tougher challenges in the chosen field of endeavor. 4. Mentally Toughness The coach is focused, determined, tenacious, hard – even ruthless- but never cruel. His resolve to overcome all obstacles and challenges in pursuit of the agreed goal is unshakeable. No matter how many setbacks, he has the resilience to keep coming back, to keep fighting. He always has heart for the fight.

He persistently seeks for the advantage and no matter how small that is, he will seize it and maximize its value. He is devoted to passing these qualities on to everyone he influences as coach. That means driving them to go beyond what they think they are capable of, even when this means tears and pain. 5. Meticulous in Preparation The coach takes the advice of Abraham Lincoln:

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree; I’d spend seven of them sharpening the axe.”

He is a master of strategic thinking and quality control, and is guardian of good order throughout the coaching process. He is thorough in briefing and preparing his athlete, team, coaching colleagues, management and performance services experts for the specifics of a given competition or campaign; he constantly seeks new and better ways of doing so. In this aspect of his role, he is thoroughly disciplined to system and method. His approach to preparation includes anticipation and coping with uncertainty. 6. Excellent Communication Skills The coach makes the complex simple and ensures that what is heard, seen, understood and translated into action is exactly the intended response to his verbal, visual and kinesthetic messages. He communicates as much through the emotions as the intellect, and leans as heavily on anecdote, metaphor and simile as on data and drawing board. 7. Relationship Management. The coach exercises excellence in initializing social interaction and persistently applies best endeavors to ensure that relationships work effectively for the individuals concerned and for the collective purpose. This means taking time to understand each person in their sphere of influence; what they need from the relationship; what they bring to it; and how they can connect in learning, in performance, and in delivering the strength of interdependence. The coach is always visible, accessible, and approachable. 8. Decision Making The coach has exceptional decision-making abilities. These range from decisions which determine the route to achieving long-term goals, to resolving situations under pressure and at speed, selecting the right course of action in a crisis. So he is very competent in making the judgment to change direction from an agreed game plan in order to seize the opportunity of success for the enterprise. He knows his most important decisions are selection of his team, from athlete to support staff. His operational network to facilitate this is part of such selection. He is well aware of his areas of strength and recruits people to make these even stronger. He is equally aware of his areas of weakness and brings in those who will compensate for these. While challenging each person in the team to raise their game, he also expects to be challenged to raise his. He creates a culture where correct decisions are based on what needs to be heard, which may not always be what is wanted to be heard.

--

9. Self-Knowledge and Awareness The coach knows himself. He never underestimates his leadership role, responsibilities and accountabilities, yet he may understate his leadership value. He is acutely aware of his limitations and measures himself persistently and more harshly than he measures others; 99% of his best he considers failure, even when in others he would see 51% of their best as a win. He is true to himself and naturally to those professional standards of excellence for which he is known. In being true to himself, he knows that, being human, he is imperfect and even fallible! Achievement, for him, is only in part reflected in performance and results in the competition arena. Rather, it is in what he did and how he did it in his leadership and coaching roles, and, in the longer term, in his legacy to those whose life he touches, to the sport, and to his community. 10. Belief, Faith and Trust The coach radiates self-belief, belief in his people and belief that the agreed goals will be successfully achieved. Those around him respond to this by believing in themselves and in him more. A shared sense of personal value grows, fuelled by his passion, pride, patience, persistence and powers of persuasion. Yet he has personal humility and an inbuilt sense of belonging to a great scheme of things. He sees trust as pivotal in that scheme: his trust in others sharing the struggle to reach the goal, and their trust in him. It is a trust where each knows the other will do the right thing, and, whatever the outcome, all will learn to be even better in meeting challenges that will follow. He has great personal strength of spiritual faith according to his beliefs. And, finally, he has an unshakeable conviction that even in those ruthless arenas of life, where facts and figures conspire to set limits to human performance, it is the intangible but irrepressible power of the human spirit to go beyond those limits, that is the winning difference. The great coach fans the flame of that human spirit. 11. Passion The coach is passionate about life, people and coaching. It is this that is at the root of his capacity to motivate.

‘You won’t sweep anyone off their fee if you can’t be swept off your own.’ -- (Anon) That passion is infectious; however, he is also instinctively compassionate when occasion requires. ______________________________________________________________________

DEFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY

A. Cornerstones of Defense 1. Ball pressure – no free looks 2. Rotation-stop the ball 3. Basket protection (no easy baskets) 4. Rebounding – completes the defense

• In brief, we want pressure on the ball the entire game. We do not want our opponent to have free looks.” The ball is the most important thing in the game and consequently we should give it the appropriate emphasis.

B. Pressure Points 1. Alleys – we want the ball pinned on a sideline as much as possible. Limited space and difficult reversals of the ball, make it particularly difficult for a team to run their designated offense.

2. Turning The Ball – before the ball crosses half court line we want to turn the basketball 2 to 3 times and then keep the ball on the nearest sideline or what we call the “alley”

3. Wing position – when the ball is pinned on the sideline alley at the wing position we will either front or side post the post while using help side defender to play the split line. In brief, we play the ball hard, deny one pass away, and play basket protection two passes away. 4. Post Position – once the ball goes into the post e like to force the post player baseline and rotate our lowest basket protection underneath to double the post position. The defense is vulnerable when the ball goes inside and therefore the defense should address the fire in the house.

5. Screens – we trap screens on the ball and rotate from that point. We see a golden opportunity when two offensive players come to the ball. This allows us to keep maximum pressure on the ball while we have our players in an optimum position to rotate for help.

6. Rebounding - I have stated to our players many times, you can make every defensive mistake known to man but blocking out and getting the rebound rights all wrongs. Defensive boards complete your defense and a team must execute this consistently in order to be any good. While blocking out is important, ball pursuit off the shot is most important. We must be warriors in this area.

--

C. Defensive Transition 1. Fundamental to our success as a basketball team will be in direct relation to the number of easy baskets we allow. I believe defensive transition is paramount in our system.

2. In order to understand sound defensive transition, we first must analyze the fast break. Made or missed, the fast break team is trying to: a. Get a quick outlet pass as far up the court as possible. b. Transfer the ball to a shooter at the other end of the court. c. Get an uncontested three point shot or lay-up off after the second pass. d. Immediate ball reversal to the opposite wing and /or trailer as it is very tough for the defense to go from ball side pressure to help side closeout.

3. Numbered Defensive Break a. Concept 1. Players roles- each player will have a designated lane (i.e. the same lanes as our numbered fast break) 2. Emphasis – pressure the basketball while covering fundamental fast break lanes.

b. Rules 1. Stop the ball a. Meet the outlet pass and get the guard to turn as many times as possible- slow the ball down, at least.

2. Sprint the lanes a. The first three steps are the most important because that is when the break generally takes place. b. Once players reach the half court line, vision on the ball and man should be a pint of emphasis. c. The key is to get below the level of the ball.

3. Match Up/ Rotation a. Match up to the offensive man in your lane. b. However, if there is not a man in your lane, rotate to the nearest offensive player: at no time should the defensive player be solely responsible for his lane.

4. Help on Penetration a. The ball and its penetration is the single most important thing to defend. Therefore, the emphasis should be keeping the ball in front of you. Since that does not always happen, immediate rotation to the ball cannot be stressed enough.

b. Two points should be mentioned – first, quick rotation will not occur unless there is proper defensive spacing “ play up the line,” or to the ball): secondly, whenever a player is beaten by penetration you can double the ball with the chaser as a rule of thumb.

5. Contest all shots a. Hands are essential in all phases of defense, especially when it comes to defending the shot. b. It is imperative that all shots be pressured with the hands up on the closeout.

6. Rebounding - Completes All Defensive Series c. Responsibilities 1. “1”- a free safety a. Must get to the initial outlet immediately – made or missed (i.e. fast break teams want the ball inbounded/outletted quickly). If you condition your “1” man to jump to the ball instantly it will slow the break down. b. In situations where the “1” man cannot get to the ball (definitely the exception) , he will fill the “2” or “3” lane, which ever is open

2. “2” – sprints the right sideline lane. In cases where “1” cannot get to the ball quickly enough “2” will assume his responsibilities.

3. “3” – sprints the left sideline lane. Occasionally, he will take the initial outlet pass.

4. “4” – sprints inside lane nearest the “3” man and is responsible for any trailer. Additionally, he we assist on middle penetration should his man be dragging up the court.

5. “5” – sprints to paint and will be responsible for the first cutter through the paint- he protests the paint.

D. Defensive Sets 1. The Press- While we use a specific number system (e.g. 2-2-1press is called “22”) the concepts remain the same. Hence we use different sets according to numbers. It makes our system flexible, yet we can keep our defensive constants.

2. Soft Pressure versus Hard Pressure a. We never compromise pressure on the ball but we do adjust our pressure one and two passes away. Why? We can give more help with the ball defender.

3. The Zone – In brief, the better the man defense you have the better you are in the zone.

--

E. Attitude 1. Statement- hard nosed attitude and approach to defense says it all about the our defense. We need to invest in a few simple concepts, execute the philosophy, and know down to our bones that defense wins championships.

2. Conclusion – Defense is like insurance: you better have it. We will be the BEST defensive team in the conference. We will take pride in our defense.

Defensive Drills A. Objective – We believe the ability to maintain a low and balanced stance will determine how successful we will be. Therefore, we stress the “defensive stance” and the ability to hold the stance for long periods of time.

B. Drills – We know that our teaching should be based on situation play. In other words, the drills all should have time, score, and competition in mind: this alleviates the monotony of the task.

C. Full Court Drills 1. 1- 0 (stance, slide, close outs) 2. 1 on 1 3. 1 on 2 4. 2 on 2 5. 2 on 3 6. 3 on 2 rotation 7. 3 on 3 8. 3 on 4 9. 4 on 3 10. 4 on 4 11. 4 on 5 12. 5 on 4 13. 5 on 5 14. 5 on 6

D. Half Court Drills 1. 1 on 0 (Stance, slide, closeout, post defense & reaction) 2. 1 on 1 3. 2 on 1 4. 2 on 2 5. 2 on 3 (Rotation, post denial & reaction, fighting and switching screens) 6. 3 on 2 7. 3 on 3 8. 3 on 4

9. 4 on 3 (trap and rotate) 10. 4 on 4 11. 4 on 5(rotation) 12. 5 on 4 13. 5 on 5 14. 5 on 6 (rotation)

E. Defensive spacing 1. 4 on 5 a. Close outs and ball pressure b. Communication c. Rotation d. Reaction e. Stop penetration f. Blocking off 2. 4 on 4 a. Channel ball to areas b. Denial c. Post denial and reaction d. Stunt penetration e. Blocking off ** Mouth, hands, bumping, spacing are keys *** We never compromise hard ball pressure and stance 3. 4 on 5 ¾ court a. Channel ball after turning it in the back court b. Rotation c. Blocking out • We want to contest the shots and teach anticipation here: absolutely depend on each other – no other way. 4. 5 on 5 a. Dead ball full (Press 22/5) b. Made – match up zone c. Miss- man to man d. 1-3-1 ½ court trap e. No switch/ switching 5. 5 on 5 ½ court – blocking off at the free throw line – one of the most overlooked areas in the game. This is a very important detail. 6. 5 on 5 situation play – We believe that situation play must be taught with time and score three times per week.

-- Mike Dunlap _________________________________________________________________________________________________________